


I didn’t think you could get any less romantic

by flickerbyniall



Series: Prompts [15]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 10:36:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15884334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flickerbyniall/pseuds/flickerbyniall
Summary: Harry is a wedding planner and Niall is a shitty best man.





	I didn’t think you could get any less romantic

“I didn’t think you could get any less romantic…”

Niall rolls his eyes but Harry can see it. It’s not like he’s hiding his displeasure for this situation, Harry or anything related to this wedding. And Harry is patient, he has to be, it’s his job after all. He has dealt with these kind of people enough times before to know how to make them participate, but Niall’s cynicism is really getting on his nerves.

Harry has worked with frat-boys as the best mans that seem to find everything to be a joke, but after some chats alone, they would break in tears telling him how much they love their friend and how proud they are of them. He has deal with bridesmaid’s in love with the groom and has stopped disasters more times that he can count, he’s had alcoholic fathers, long-lost relatives, wedding crashers and even animals in the equations, but conversations are not working with Niall. He barely listens to him but nods at the right times to pretend to be paying attention. It’s exasperating, almost like he’s trying to sabotage this wedding.

He plays around, never listens to Harry and eats the testing food but gives zero reviews about it. He even finished all the glasses of wine before Eleanor could even get to the venue the first couple of weeks of the wedding planning. But then, there are other times when Harry finds him sitting alone, looking at the wall, absorbed in his own mind until he would heard Harry walk in and proceed to make fun of his shoes or shirts even if he has the exact items according to the photos Louis gave to him for the wedding album.

And it’s frustrating because the first time Harry saw him, he took his breath away with that strong chin and those beautiful blue eyes, especially with that wide smile when he kissed Eleanor’s cheek and hugged Louis longer than necessary. He wasn’t gonna do anything about it. Harry is a professional and the only connection he has with these people is the fact that he’s the wedding planner – even if they have actually become friends in the last six months –, he wasn’t going to act based on attraction, but that wasn’t necessary the moment the two of them were left alone and Niall wouldn’t even let Harry finish with his ideas for the reception when he sarcastically laughed at him and looked at his phone for the rest of the hours they had scheduled.

“What are you talking about, mate?” Niall laughs, holding Lottie’s hand and making her spin a couple of times. “I’m not gonna be romantic with Tommo’s little sister.”

Charlotte frowns and slaps him on the arm, Harry wishes he could do that too.

“The only thing you have to do is walk her by the arm to the altar and split in different directions, Niall.” Harry says, holding onto the last bit of self-control he has, otherwise, he would explode. “We’ve been trying to do this for the last forty minutes, everyone would appreciate it if you stop fooling around and start to cooperate.”

Niall turns his head to see the rest of the best men and bridesmaid looking at their phones and chatting with each other, obviously trying to prove Harry wrong. He sighs and Niall smirks, like he enjoys making Harry suffer. This is the least favorite part of his job, when Harry and his mom decided to open a wedding-planning business they thought everything would be a daily display of love and happiness, but the things he had seen, the things he had heard, the people he has met. Not everything is flowers and rainbows and most people just want a beautiful wedding instead of a meaningful marriage.

Harry is about to pull his own hair out when Louis and Eleanor walk in, holding hands, smiling like they’re just three months in of his relationship and Harry thinks they may be his favorite couple so far. Niall is looking at them as well, with a big smile on his face and holding Lottie by the arm, walking her down the altar just like Harry indicated an hour ago. The rest of the bridesmaids and best men follow their steps.

“How’s everything going?” Louis asks, letting Eleanor on the other side of the room as he walks and stands next to Niall.

“Wonderfully.” Niall says, pretentious tone in his voice as he looks at Harry. “Our friend Harold here is doing an amazing job.”

Louis smiles at him and Harry nods in return, because even if Niall is not sincere, Louis is, and that’s enough for him, he’s the one that truly matters, not the stupid prick that the best man is, at least only with him because he seems to transform when any other person is around, especially Anne, Harry’s mom, who seems to love him and laughs at him every time Harry complains about the Irish man.

Eleanor walks down the aisle, making faces at Louis as he looks at the floor to keep himself from laughing but Niall is right there, sending kisses and she pretends to catch them. How is that someone this sweet can behave like an asshole most of the time? Harry will never know the answer.

The rehearsal ends forty minutes later than Harry anticipated, giving them only two hours to change for the dinner rehearsal at the other salon in the hotel. Lottie and Sophia drag Harry to the hallway out of the room and they give him a hard drive with the presentation they made for Eleanor to be played at the dinner later, Harry nods and puts it in his pocket to check it when he gets in his room.

He reminds each person that dinner is at 8 _o’clock_ as they leave the room, and of course, Niall is still inside, maybe he knows Harry has to close the room and give the key to the Hotel’s manager and he just wants him to wait longer.

Harry opens the door and finds him facing the window wall, looking somewhere down the city. He clears his throat to make him notice his presence but he’s doing that thing again when he zones out and everything else disappears around him. Harry finds him annoying, but for some reason, this time it feels sad.

“I have to close the room,” he tries again, and Niall seems to wake up, blinking repeatedly as he turns to face Harry.

“Yeah, sorry.”

He takes his jacket from the back of one of the chairs piled at the end of the room and leaves. And that’s the nicest thing he has said to Harry yet.

*

Harry is standing in a corner of the salon, laughing as he looks at the pics of Eleanor and Louis’ sisters in the projector. It’s a good thing after the tears everyone shared after the twins played the video their mom left for Louis and Eleanor because she knew they were gonna end up together, eventually. Harry thought it was better to play it the day after tomorrow, the actual day of the wedding. But they begged saying they could play it at the wedding too and he couldn’t say no.

It was worth it, the way everyone held their breath when her face showed up in the projector and she started speaking.

_Louis, my beautiful boy…_

And he cried but Niall was there to hold him and Eleanor kissed him. The things his mother said, the love in her eyes and his voice, made Harry cry too, feeling incredibly grateful to have his mom with him. The room was silent until the childhood photos popped up and everyone started laughing.

Louis was kissing his sisters, with the little ones on each leg as they wiped up the tears on his face and laughed about memories they don’t have, Eleanor holding his hand. It’s a beautiful picture and Harry is so happy he can witness it.

“You should have warned me about Jay’s video.”

Harry jumps, spilling some of the champagne on the floor and curses, hoping it won’t lighten up the wood of the floor. He turns to his right finding Niall in a black suit, looking gorgeous with his red nose and red eyes.

“Phoebe came to me asking for permission. I didn’t see it until now.” He answers and Niall nods, rubbing his eyes and Harry wants to take his hands off it so he won’t hurt himself.

“It was perfect. Louis’ biggest regret is his mom missing his wedding. They weren’t together when his mom…” Niall clears his throat and now it’s Harry’s turn to nod, letting him know that he is listening, “with that video, somehow, it’s like…”

“She’s here.” Harry finishes for him because his voice is trembling. Niall nods again.

“The place looks incredible.” Niall says, looking at the chandelier over their heads and the decoration of the tables.

“Do I have your approval now?” Harry says sarcastically.

“You’re not that lucky.” Niall winks at him, walking to the bar and Harry wishes he doesn’t look as red as his face feels.

*

“It’s funny.” Eleanor says as she hands Louis a glass of champagne.

He smiles at her, like the moon itself is on her eyes and backs up the chair so she can sit on his lap, and she does so, gracefully. “What is?”

“How Niall looks like a lost puppy whenever Harry is around.” She laughs and points to the other side of the room where Niall is playing with Ernest while stealing glances of Harry organizing the waitresses.

Louis laughs too, loud and hard and full of joy. It’s a good day, he has his future wife with him, his son will be arriving any time tomorrow and his best friend seems to remember how life can be if you let things go.

“Poor thing, it’s been a while since he liked someone.” Eleanor takes a sip of her drink and Louis snuggles her closer.

“It’s getting better,” Louis sighs, “He’s been more talkative and he’s actually been contributing the last couple of weeks with the wedding thing.”

Eleanor nods, kissing Louis in the cheek, suddenly remembering a similar situation two years ago. Niall looked so happy at this rehearsal dinner, greeting all of his family, laughing with his friends of college, introducing his brother’s son to everyone. Louis wanted to tell him about the engagement in that moment, but Eleanor wanted to wait so they wouldn’t take the spotlight off them. And it was a good thing they did.

Sometimes, Eleanor thinks that she should have ended things at the rehearsal dinner. Could have been simpler. It doesn’t matter what Niall or Louis say, she hates her because she stole Niall from a lot of things and then, left him there without nothing other than pain. And yeah, she was there when she met Niall but he was her friend, not her.

“I just want him to be happy.” Eleanor sighs, looking at Niall across the room. He’s not fully looking at Harry with the same expression he had when they first met. Speechless but also annoyed, like he doesn’t want to be attracted to him but Harry is not making it easy for him, being all charming and cute all the time.

“He’s getting there!” Louis says, confident. Pointing at Niall debating on going Harry’s direction or coming to talk to the couple. Louis nods in his direction and Niall rolls his eyes, trying to hide his face behind his drink.

“Remember the first time he saw Harry?” Eleanor laughs in Louis’ ear, resting her arm on his shoulder. Louis laughs, nodding again. “He literally had his mouth open.”

“And then tried to ignore him for the rest of the day,” Niall takes some steps at the distance, stopping to talk to some people on his way but his eyes never leave Harry.

“We should give Harry a bonus for bringing Niall to the real world,” Eleanor smiles, blowing kisses at Niall every time he turns to them, like looking for approval, “I didn’t even know he was ready for dating again.”

“I don’t think he was, but Harry didn’t give him a choice, did he?” Louis says, looking at Eleanor for what seems to be the first time the whole night. They have been busy, but not in a stressful way – thanks to Harry – in a lovable tired kind of way, like a long day after hiking or touring a new city. They’re excited.

“It’s so cute when Niall gets frustrated and mad because he doesn’t know how to handle himself,” She smiles, tenderly, “like when he got drunk with the testing wine because he couldn’t talk to Harry like a normal person.” Eleanor finishes her glass of champagne and leaves it on the table. “Poor Harry, he has to put up with a lot.”

“All the flirting he knows goes back to when he was fifteen, remember?” Louis finishes his glass as well, putting it next to Eleanor’s.

They see Niall walking to Harry now and maybe he’s a little too drunk by the way his steps seem to go sideways but when he’s finally behind him, he takes his wrist and stars walking out of the salon. Harry struggles a but until he realizes who’s dragging him and walks with him.

“Oh, damn.” Eleanor whispers.

*

“If you weren’t so fucking corny I’d have made out with your face long ago.” Niall breathes right over his lips as he tries to unbutton his pants.

Harry laughs, slapping his hands out of his hips, making him whimper but he doesn’t give him time to complain when he leans in for another kiss.

His head is fuzzy and his moves are slow for all the champagne he had as the night moved along. One minute he was alone at the bar, drinking as everyone started leaving to go to their rooms and the next thing he knows, Niall is dragging him to the washroom with his hand on his pants.

The kiss turns slow and Niall makes these little sounds that are driving Harry crazy. His hands are now in Harry’s hair, pulling, rubbing, pressing. And it feels good, too good to think clearly. So he starts walking to the faucet until Niall’s ass hits the sink and he jumps to sit on it, getting his pants wet and hissing about it.

Harry starts leaving kisses from his cheek to his neck and a voice in the back of his mind is counting all the reasons why this is a bad idea but Niall’s legs around his waist makes him forget them all.

“You look so hot in that suit.” Niall moans in his ear and he wants to say the same thing but his knees hit the floor and Niall doesn’t let him talk anymore.

*

Harry has been busy enough to keep him from thinking about how Niall seems to be avoiding him now. His mom came along to help him to check the food and the flowers, the guest list, the security guys and the decoration of both salons in the Hotel. She’s also helping Eleanor and the girls get ready so Harry has enough time to take a shower and get ready for the ceremony.

He has everything planned by schedule and all is going according to it. What he doesn’t expect is someone knocking at his door two hours before the wedding. He’s buttoning his shirt when he opens the door and finds Niall in his blue suit, one hand in the pocket and his eyes on the floor.

“Hey.” Harry says, unsure.

“I need your help.” Niall says, and he sounds so little.

Harry steps in, letting Niall walk into his room. He wants to reach for him but somewhere deep down he knows Niall doesn’t feel the same way and it’s fine, Harry has been in this situation enough to know what’s coming.

“I can’t find the rings.” Niall says, and that wasn’t what he was waiting for.

“What?!”

Harry never shouts, he likes to talk slow and tender, phrasing his words so it would match his thoughts and most people find it exasperating but they have grown used to it, so it doesn’t only surprise Niall when he screams, Harry’s own heartbeat is rising at an incredible speed.

“I don’t remember much from last night but it wasn’t on the shelf next to my bed where I left them before going to the club and my room is already upside down and I can’t focus with all the mess…” Niall is talking fast and moving his hands and Harry would be worried if he wasn’t so mad.

“Are you trying to ruin this wedding?!” He asks, making Niall looks up, “Are you in love with Louis or Eleanor or something?!”

Niall frowns and he’s ready to hit Harry on the face but he stops with his fist in the air, controlling his breathing as he sits on the bed, holding his head in his hands.

“Just help me find the fucking rings and I’ll be out of your sight.”

*

Harry feels like he can finally breathe when Louis and Eleanor exchange an _I do_ and kiss. The rings were in the fridge in Niall’s room next to the empty bottles of alcohol. They didn’t say anything after they found them. Harry just left the room and went to the first floor for the final touches.

It’s been a couple of hours and everyone seems to be having fun. Eleanor looks perfect in white dancing with Louis’ sister and a beautiful smile on her face. Sophia is dancing with one of the best man, Liam, and maybe they’ll end up together again just like Lottie planned all along.

An arm falls over his shoulders and he finds Louis at his side holding a pint and looking at his wife holding his son, spinning around, making Briana laugh as she waits for her turn to dance with Freddie again. He looks happy and that satisfies Harry in an incredible measure.

“Thank you for all of this.” Louis says and Harry smiles, nodding.

“I hate to say that’s my job.” Harry mumbles. “I want to say something like you’re my friend and-”

“Hey!” Louis laugh, slapping the back of his head. “We’re family now, curly.”

Harry blushes and looks at the floor. He didn’t want to say goodbye to these people, maybe he doesn’t have to.

“And I know Niall has been a pain in the ass, I’m not blind.” Now he’s looking at Niall at the bar, drinking another whisky a sip at a time. “He hasn’t always been like this, I promise.”

There’s something in his voice, like a flicker of sadness down his throat that he’s been trying to let go, but it’s still there.

“We postponed the wedding a year, you know?” Louis says, eyes still on Niall.

Harry frowns, turning half of his body to look at Louis eye to eye. “Why?”

“He was left at the altar two years ago by the girl he was in love with since he was fifteen.” Harry’s mouth opens and his eyes travel to where Niall is sitting, looking at his empty glass. “We were gonna announce the good news at the party, but Niall was so broken, we couldn’t…”

Harry nods, understanding.

“He avoided every social event after that, all of his friends know this girl so it was almost impossible not to walk into her and her new boyfriend.” Louis sighs, “We decided to wait until he was ready to leave his bed and put a smile on his face for us.”

He wants to say something, he wants to walk to Niall and apologize and maybe hug him, if he allows it. Maybe it’s written all over his face because Louis laughs and his arm falls from his shoulders and he pushes him to Niall’s direction.

“The smile he has when you’re around.” Louis points at Niall, “I haven’t seen that one in a while.”

*

“Hey,” Harry says, sitting in the empty sit next to Niall.

He doesn’t look up, he doesn’t acknowledge his presence. He just drinks and lets the glass hit the table loud enough to make Harry shiver.

“I want to apologize,” he says, slowly, “I’m so sorry, Niall…”

But he laughs, strong and rough, turning to Harry, giving him goosebumps.

“Did Tommo spill the beans?” Harry looks down and that’s all the confirmation Niall needs. “I don’t need your pity.”

“I don’t pity you.” Harry puts a hand on his arm and his chest gets warm when Niall doesn’t throw him off. “Everyone deals with their own shit. I just seem to have forgotten that.”

Niall shakes his head, looking at Harry’s hand on his arm and he puts his own hand over it before Harry could move it.

“There’s no excuse for the way I’ve been treating you.” He clears his throat, looking up with his red teary eyes. “I’m just afraid, I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I’m sorry.” He smiles.

Harry nods, smiling as well. “Maybe we can star over after this wedding is over.”

“What about now?” Niall says, squinting.

“That’s also a good idea.”


End file.
